THE THEATER LOOP

To create a play about African horrors, they went to Africa

New plays arrive at theaters like the Goodman in all kinds of ways. Agents pitch them. Hopeful playwrights send them in envelopes. And dramaturges help develop them.

But in the vast majority of cases, the play is written before the director gets attached.

Sure, the director is often somebody with an existing relationship with the playwright. And once everyone gets thrown in the rehearsal room, a genuinely collaborative process ideally takes place.

But something quite different happened in the case of Lynn Nottage's powerful new play "Ruined," and you can see the effects for the next few weeks on the Goodman stage.

Four years ago, Nottage suddenly decided she wanted to go to Africa and scope out a new play that would somehow draw attention to the victimization of women in the long-lasting war ripping apart the Democratic Republic of Congo. She took somebody with her: a director, Kate Whoriskey.

The horrific situation that motivated them has been well-documented by news organizations. As far back as 2000, Tribune foreign correspondent Paul Salopek reported from the scene that the strife in the DRC was mostly hidden from view and yet was "one of the most lethal, complex wars in the world." Salopek also pointed out that the United Nations believed that 500,000 children under five years old had perished from causes associated with this war.

It rages on. In 2007, this newspaper noted that 4,500 separate cases of rape had been reported in just one DRC province during a period of only seven months.

You can see why Nottage wanted to write about such jaw-dropping human horror. And, indeed, "Ruined" doesn't flinch from describing the violence inflicted on woman caught in a brutal war that has been so appallingly below the socio-political radar.

But if you are expecting you'll have to just grit your teeth through unspeakable violence, you will be mightily surprised: "Ruined" is also a celebration of human endurance. It's about as upbeat show as you could imagine in such a setting.

The celebratory aspects of the show -- its vivid colors, resonant music, humanistic rhythms -- don't so much flow from the script as from the direction. Now, I wasn't a fly on the wall during this process. But it's obvious from the result that Whoriskey's presence at Nottage's side, right from the start, helped create an unusually rich fusion of writer and director.

In other words, it doesn't just feel like the script faithfully depicts the realities of that place, but everything you're watching is uncommonly seamless and authentic. The narrative of the drama tells of the horrors. Its theatrical heart beats with human optimism. That makes sense. Who has ever met African people and come away with a sense of defeatism? If the director hadn't been there, I doubt she'd have understood she had to stick all that on stage.

Once Nottage and Whoriskey got back, I'm told they collectively got the Goodman excited about their play. And then they got Manhattan Theatre Club excited, too.

"Ruined" opens in New York in January. The two women need to fix some second-act problems (aptly enough, the script and the production go wrong at almost exactly the same moment). And I hear there's a chance that Adriane Lenox (who withdrew from the Chicago production) will join the cast, although an MTC spokesman said that New York casting has yet to be announced. Either way, "Ruined" will be fine.

Its foundations were carefully, collectively built.

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"Ruined"

When: Through Dec. 7

Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.

Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Tickets: $10-$39 at 312-443-3800.

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cjones5@tribune.com

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